Are those that eat meat and are aware of the arguments for vegetarianism bad people?

I am currently eating a steak. It came from a dead animal - one who most likely didn't have the greatest life, one could say suffered - One could go so far as to say the animal I am eating used to live a life of torture.

I am perfectly well aware of the arguments for not eating meat. The arguments against animal abuse. I have watched the videos of animals being slaughtered because I wanted information to make an informed opinion.

It wouldn't be a lie for me to admit that I agree with all the arguments from the non meat eater/vegetarian crowd. I agree with them almost completely. That the animals do in fact suffer more than they should.

But honestly - eating this steak makes me feel good. I enjoy chewing it, tasting it - the red and bloody steak it becomes with butter and pepper. It's delicious to me.

I guess it's more that I just don't care about the suffering the animals enough for me to give up my delicious steak. Or veal chop. Or rack of lamb.

What say you, rational minds? Am I a 'bad person' for admitting that the arguments make sense and yet I choose to simply ignore them for my own one could say - selfish and short-term desires?

Replies to This Discussion

For one reason or another, most of us are participating in the perpetuation of human suffering, animal suffering, or environmental degradation...I don't think it's possible avoid entirely if you live with the western standard of living in a globalized economy. Of course, that's no excuse not to try to improve the way we raise, grow, and harvest our food. I'm not saying you're evil if you eat meat that comes from a chicken factory or veggies piked by indentured slaves, but it doesn't make you a saint and it doesn't tally up as a neutral moral choice. I'm going to put my neck out there and assert that if you do something that you know is seriously wrong just because you like it (as the OP and I do), you're a bad person. So, as an enlightened omnivore who doesn't seek out humanely raised and harvested food, I'm not a good person. I'm not an ax murderer, but I could definitely improve myself.

I'm not at all bashing their choice to abstain from meat eating, or from doing things within their power. What I am bashing is some of their, as you put it, "sanctimonious" attitude that they're morally superior, and calling those who don't make the same choices "bad people"... or murderers. Those that do abstain are totally fine... great, even! They're very disciplined and strong-willed people. My brother and dad both went vegetarian, and I haven't been able to follow-through the way they have. I admire their strength.

I have, however, had enough guilt-tripping from the church to last a lifetime... and I don't need more of it from people who choose to help the earth in their own way. Maybe this seems trifling, but I think I'm doing the world a lot of good by not having children. How much consumption and depletion of resources am I preventing simply by not bringing one to three more people into the world? And most people choose their battles... which is exactly what vegans/vegetarians are doing. Other people fight for different causes, and each cause takes a lot of energy and time... so it doesn't make sense for everyone to ultra-focus on their food choices when they're ultra-focusing on something else that demands their full attention. No, I refuse to accept that people who don't have time/money/resources to go vegan are "bad" people. Nor do I accept they're bad if it's simply their preference.

There does, also, need to be a distinction drawn between meat-eating itself, and eating meat procured from animals in a cruel manner. Eating meat is not inherently bad. In order for something to live, something else must die... period. It's a biological reality we'll never be able to circumvent. Also, it is extremely difficult, in our culture, to control where our food comes from. It is more difficult, depending on where you live, to make ethical food choices at every turn. Maybe those who don't go to extreme measures to find out where all our food hails from are simply lazy, or (as I said above) have other, more pressing things to think about. The west coast is brimming with local veggies, free-range animals, and so forth; those that live there have a lot more access to choices. It is much more difficult in other areas. These things need to be acknowledged.

It's just so wearying when everyone thinks the rest of the planet should make the same choices and have the same priorities they do, otherwise they're all bad. It does sound like religious rhetoric.

Absolutely, it is universally contemptible... or, at least, annoying. I'm definitely not just bugged when vegans have this attitude. I've encountered a lot of feminists displaying the very same attitude. I'm highly interested in women's rights... but not the way that group has mainly been going about it. They're so self-righteous, and have an "us vs them" mind-frame, that I'd rather not associate with them at all. Whether I agree with their main premise is actually beside the point; the bitterness and all-or-nothing approach is polarizing.

If you're passionate about a cause and want to win people over, calling people monsters and misogynists (among many other causes and slurs I could name) isn't the way to go about it.

The arguments you are responding to are purely emotional ones, not intellectual ones. This is a form of propaganda manipulating you through your sense of empathy. The fact that you enjoy eating meat does not make you a "bad person". You are a human being. Human beings are omnivorous animals and omnivorous animals eat meat. Meat eating animals aren't "bad" because they desire to eat meat.

What you are calling "arguments that makes sense" are simply emotional appeals - they "feel" correct. This is a tactic of theists to "prove" the exist of their pet deity/deities. And they are attacking you by triggering feelings of self-hatred (guilt). In short they are manipulating you into attacking yourself. Don't feel guilty - get angry! These people who did this too you are abusing you and what they did was no less worse than what you saw being done to other animals in those videos; in fact it may be even more so (subjectively).

The answer to that question is deciedly NO. You have a perfect right to eat meat. I've met some vegetarians who did not like hearing about meat eating per se. After giving her comments, my brother mentioned that he had recently returned from a black powder hunt with a wild boar. He went into great detail. At the time, he needed the meat to survive.

This happened at a New Year's eve party. Though my brother did not intend to gross her out, he had a right to speak and follow his own precepts. The young lady did appear a bit affected, but not horribly so.